Phoenix Wright is fresh out of law school, and it's his first time acting as a defense attorney. The original Gameboy Advance version contains four cases. The DS version contains all four cases plus a bonus fifth case.

Case 1 - The First Turnabout

A young supermodel is attacked and killed in her apartment. The accused is Phoenix's best friend. Although it's his first case, can Phoenix prove his buddy's innocence?

Phoenix Wright / Ryuuichi Naruhodou
This is you, Phoenix Wright, Ace Attorney! You're a rookie lawyer out to defend the wrongly accused! You're also very proud of your spiky haircut. "Ryuuichi" is just a common name, although the symbol for "ryu" means "dragon". "Naru hodo" is a phrase that means "I see", so there are plenty of bits of dialogue like "Naru hodo, Naruhodou." In English, you see instances like "Isn't that right, Wright?"

Larry Butz / Masashi Yahari
Phoenix's best friend since childhood. Larry is not only incredibly irresponsible, but has a tendency to get into trouble. He switches jobs often, usually in pursuit of some girl. "Yahari" means "of course" and "masashiku" means "surely". It's a goofy name in and of itself, but (very) roughly translated, you get phrases like "When there's trouble, surely, Masashi is involved." It's almost exactly the same as the classic pun from the Marx Brothers and the movie Airplane! ("Surely you must be joking!" "I never joke. And don't call me Shirley.") The equivalent line in the English version is "If you smell trouble, it's gotta be the Butz!"

Frank Sahwit / Hoshio Yamano
A newspaper salesman that claims to have seen Larry kill his supermodel girlfriend.

Winston Payne / Takefumi Auchi
A prosecutor who used to be called "The Rookie Killer", but has since fallen from grace. You face him in the first case of every game. As for his name, "Auchi" = "ouch". The name "Payne" is a similar joke, even if it does sound a little bit too badass for such a wimpy character (compared to, say, Max Payne. The gun-toting detective, not the wrestler.)

Case 2 - Turnabout Sisters

One of Phoenix's colleagues is murdered. In your research, you learn about the Case DL6, where Mia's mother was used as spiritual medium in a murder investigation, and implicated the wrong person.

Maya Fey / Mayoi Ayasato
Mia's sister, who tags along and eventually becomes Phoenix's partner. She is a spirit medium in training who can call up the dead and take their form.

Dick Gumshoe / Keisuke Itonokogiri
One of the main characters in the series, Dick Gumshoe isn't too terribly bright, but he's always willing to use his inside knowledge to help Phoenix solve a case. He appears in all of the games. In Japanese, a "nokogiri" is a saw. It just implies that our favorite detective isn't really the sharpest tool in the shed, especially compared to Edgeworth. The English name is just silly due to its redundancy.

Miles Edgeworth / Reiji Mitsurugi
A brilliant prosecutor who often uses devious tricks to get a guilty verdict. Though he starts off as an obnoxious bastard, eventually he becomes an admirable character. In Japanese, "reiji" simply means "exemplary", and "mitsurugi" means "sword" (yes, just like in Soul Calibur.) "Edgeworth" is a pretty good translation.

Marvin Grossberg / Soranosuke Hoshikage
Mia's mentor. He is initially asked to get involved with the case, but refuses for reasons unknown. In later games, he makes overt mentions to his buttocks.

April May / Umeyo Shouchiku

The witness who saw the murder from a hotel across the street. She uses her feminine charms (i.e. tits) to woo the courtroom in her favor.

Redd White / Masaru Konaka
The head of the Blue Corporation, which specializes in blackmail and extortion. Obviously not a nice guy. Also prone to showing off his bling. When his name is written the traditional Japanese way, family name first, the kanji mean "Small, Medium, Large". In English, it kind of captures the same joke, even though it has to do with colors instead of sizes ("Redd White of the Blue Corporation".)

Case 3 - Turnabout Samurai

The Steel Samurai, defender of Neo Olde Tokyo, is one of the most popular children shows around. Unfortunately, the actor has been accused of murdering his onscreen nemesis, the Evil Magistrate. Amidst the studio are creepy directors and seedy producers. The world of children's programming isn't as bright as it seems.

Will Powers / Saburou Niboshi
The big lug behind the Steel Samurai. Although he claimed to be sleeping at the time of the murder, a security photograph shows someone in the Steel Samurai costume heading towards the crime scene.

Wendy Oldbag / Kaoru Ohba
A batty old security guard. Despite her age, she's a gushing fangirl at heart, and desperately wishes to be close to her idols. She also appears in later games, having obtained her dream to be in TV. "Obaasan" is a term for an old woman, which sounds very similar to her last name, "Ohba". It's far more blatant when rendered in English as "Oldbag", but the first name is somewhat clever (read as: "windy old bag").

Sal Manella / Takuya Uzai
The geeky director of "The Steel Samurai". H3 t4lk3 1n l33t sp34k (he talks in 'leet' speak', for those not in the know) in the English version. In the Japanese version, he punctuates his sentences with single kanji. Very slimy, but has some hilarious lines. ("ROFS? Rolling On the Floor Starving?")

Cody Hackins / Kyuuta Ohtaki
A young fanboy who sneaks into the studio and takes pictures. Although difficult to deal with, his photographic evidence is the key to proving Will Powers innocence.

Dee Vasquez / Sakura Himegami
The producer of the Steel Samurai. Does not think twice about calling mafia goons on you if you annoy her too much.

Case 4 - Turnabout Goodbyes

On a dark and foggy night, two men are on a boat out in a lake. One of them kills the other. The accused murderer is none other than Miles Edgeworth himself. Phoenix ends up defending his enemy, all while untangling the mysteries of Gourdy, the legendary creature who apparently lives under the sea. This case stretches back far into the past, way back to the DL6 case from fifteen years ago.

Manfred von Karma / Gou Karuma
The amazingly vile prosecutor in this case. He will objects to pretty much anything and possesses the voice of the devil. Despite his age, he has a perfect record, and taught Edgeworth everything he knows. "Gou" means "overpowering", while the word "gouka" means "the effect of karma", "Karuma" is how you would spell "karma" in katakana. but the kanji means "hunting demon". Pretty scary.

Lotta Hart / Natsumi Ohsawagi
An aspiring photojournalist with a Southern (or Kansai, if you're playing the Japanese version) accent. She shows up many times in later games, usually displaying some kind of photographic evidence.

Mysterious Old Man
A dimwitted old man who lives by the lake and apparently witnessed the murder. Seems to have forgotten his name. He lives alone, except for his pet parrot, whom you actually need to interrogate at one point.

Case 5 - Rise from the Ashes (DS version only)

A young detective is murdered right in the police station. The accused is one of the best prosecutors in the district, who completely admits to the crime. Her sister begs Phoenix to help, but stumbles upon an overwhelmingly complicated scheme. Edgeworth is once again the prosecutor, but his reputation is still in question from the previous case.

Lana Skye / Tomoe Houzuki
A star prosecutor to admits her guilt right off the bat. It's a little hard when she's working against you. Has a very cold exterior.

Ema Skye / Akane Houzuki
Lana's younger sister. Since Maya is off training, Ema acts as your partner for this chapter. She's a bit naive and goofy, but she cares deeply for her sister, and her analytic deductions are sometimes helpful.

Angel Starr / Kyouka Ichinotani
A lunchlady who witnessed the crime. Angel used to be a detective who was known as "The Cough Up Queen", but somehow got fired.

Jake Marshall / Kyousuke Zaimon
Another former detective who has been demoted to a regular officer. Actually thinks he is a cowboy.

Damon Gant / Kaishi Ganto
He may not look it, but this is the chief of police. He likes to joke around and gives dumb nicknames to everyone (he refers to the Judge as "Udgey" and to Wright as "Wrighto".)

Mike Meekins / Susumu Harabai
A rather daft officer who somehow gets entangled into the case. Meeking is overexuberant and has a tendency to yell into his bullhorn, even when he's talking to someone right in front of him.

Although each of the cases tell its own self-contained story, the overall plot involves Case DL6, in which both the Fey and Edgeworth family were involved. It occurred nearly fifteen years in the past, and resulted in the disappearance of Mia and Maya's mother. By the end of the game, you'll have finally sorted out all of the twists and turns that had remained buried for years.

The Gameboy Advance version has fairly good graphics, even if nearly all of of the graphics are still portraits with a bit of animation. The DS version (subtitled "Yomigaeru Gyakuten", or "Revival Turnabout") adds slightly more polished graphics and some of the amenities of the later games, like profiles for all of the characters. All of the action takes place on the top screen, while the bottom screen acts as the interface. It's much cleaner and easier to use than the GBA games. The music has been slightly enhanced, and you can yell into the microphone to press witnesses, although it doesn't work too well. At the beginning of each testimony, there are close-ups of the defendant's and prosecutor's eyes, which is a nice touch. However, the biggest addition is the fifth case, which is much longer than any of the other cases.

In this case, every object in your inventory is now a 3D model, which can be rotated and examined from close up (similar to the original Resident Evil.) There are also a few segments where you need to dust for fingerprints, spray for blood stains, and reassemble broken objects. Also added are a few scenes using polygonal models. The DS is the only version released in English, so this is the rendition most of us are familiar with. The Japanese release has both English and Japanese versions built into it - apparently the English translation was one of the bigger selling points when it was marketed in its home country.